Data Centers

300,000 sf Powered Industrial Shell Building on 60 acres
85+ Acres for Additional Data Center Locations

Property is county owned and provides great flexibility for building and site layout. Property has been pre-graded and all utilities are in place. The property is deed-restricted to assure high quality tenancy and the Center is very accessible to the limited-access US Hwy 74.

Electricity Maintained by Duke-Energy

Electrical substation located in the park with excellent power quality and reliability. There are 44kV and 12.5 kV Three Phase Power lines on site and two additional electrical substations within the 1-3 mile range (including 100 kV, 44 kV and 12.5 kV infrastructures).
Electric rates 10-30% below the National average over the last 20 years, with typical cost of $0.04-$0.05 per kWh range for high load factor customers such as data centers. Cost includes energy and demand charges.
Diversified generation portfolio which provides rate stability and Green Energy: 47% nuclear, 53% coal.
Located less than ten miles from the Data Center Park, Duke-Energy's new 800 megawatt Cliffside Steam Plant is under construction with over 500 megawatts existing.
Site Selection Magazine Top 10 Utility (Annually in 2000-2008).

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Redundant Fiber through Dukenet, AT&T and Pangaea

AT&T and DukeNet can provide OC192 (10 Gig) service to the site. Their nearest POP is in Charlotte (distance of 62 miles). Pangaea has a POP in Rutherfordton and is a non-profit regional fiber network. Dukenet also provides a local Sonnet ring.

Water and Wastewater by Town of Forest City

12 inch water and sewer lines inside the Park with 8 inch water lines extended to each site. 5.5 to 6 million gallon per day capacity in the system which will allow for robust cooling to meet data center requirements. Onsite water storage is also available.

Climatology / Low Risk Hazards

Rutherford County is located within the Isothermal Belt with moderating temperatures and a very low risk of natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, hail, ice or snow storms, making it a highly secure and efficient place to have a data facility. The Data Center Park is more than one mile from any active rail.

Low Tax Rates

As Western North Carolina continues to recruit large data centers such as Google and Apple, state and local officials have shown an ability to create business friendly legislation in order to recruit this growing market segment. Some examples include:

NC General Statue 105-130.4 - Capital intensive companies are allowed an apportionment of their corporate income tax if they invest a minimum of $1 billion dollars in private funds within a nine year period.
NC General Statue 105-164.13(55) - Sales of electricity and eligible business property to an internet service provider or web search portal business that invests at least $250 million in private funds are exempt from sales and use tax.
NC General Statue 105-187.51C - Sales of machinery and equipment to be located and used in a major data center are exempt from sales and use tax but are subject to an excise tax at a rate of one percent with a max of $80 per article. Minimum capital investment of $150 million within five years.
NC General Statue 105-164.13(43a) - Sales and use tax exemption for sales of custom computer software delivered electronically or delivered by load and leave.

Rutherford County's incentive classification by the State allows for companies to take the greatest advantage of tax credits, sales and use tax discounts, exemptions and refunds, discretionary programs, and other cost-saving programs. For additional incentives that are available, click here.

North Carolina has no property tax. The Rutherford County property tax rate is $0.53/$100 which is among the lower twenty percent of all counties in North Carolina. The Data Center Park is located outside municipal limits so there are no city property taxes.

Site Preparation

Rutherford 74 Corporate Center has been through a rigorous pre-qualification process to ensure the site is "shovel ready" for immediate development. No environmental permitting should be required (other than a simple erosion control permit) since all State and Federal Agencies have reviewed or permitted the site previously as part of the site preparation process. Some of the (31) prerequisites that have been met include: